Series synopsis
Space Battleship Yamato, also known as 宇宙戦艦ヤマト is a Japanese animation drama action & adventure television series that premiered on YTV on October 6, 1974. It ended on April 4, 1981. It stars Kei Tomiyama, Gorō Naya, Shūsei Nakamura and Yoko Asagami.
Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers. The first two seasons of this version were broadcast in Greece in 1981-82 as Διαστημόπλοιο Αργώ. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy, and a Port ...
Premise
Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers. The first two seasons of this version were broadcast in Greece in 1981-82 as Διαστημόπλοιο Αργώ. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy, and a Portuguese-language version was successfully shown in Brazil under the title Patrulha Estelar and Viaje a la Ultima Galaxia or Astronave Intrepido in Spain and Latin America.
It is a seminal series in the history of anime, marking a turn towards more complex serious works and influencing works such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion; Hideaki Anno has ranked Yamato his favorite anime and credited it with sparking his interest in anime.
Yamato was the first anime series or movie to win the Seiun Award, a feat not repeated until the 1985 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Kei Tomiyama as Susumu Kodai
- Gorō Naya as Juzo Okita
- Shūsei Nakamura as Daisuke Shima
- Yoko Asagami as Yuki Mori
- Takeshi Aono as Shiro Sanada
- Ichiro Nagai as Hikozaemon Tokugawa
- Kenichi Ogata as Analyzer
- Yoshito Yasuhara as Kenjiro Ota
Supporting cast
- Taichiro Hirokawa as Mamoru Kodai
- Sachiko Chijimatsu as Shima's Mother
- Michiko Hirai as Starsha (voice)
- Masatô Ibu as Heikuro Todo
- Michihiro Ikemizu as Sukeharu Yabu
- Akira Kamiya as Saburo Kato
- Keisuke Yamashita as Yasuo Nanbu
- Haruko Kitahama as Beemera Queen
- Osamu Kobayashi as General Domel
- Akiko Tsuboi as Akiko Kodai
- Shinji Nomura as Yoshikazu Aihara
Episodes
This series spans 4 seasons with 92 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 15 | August 6, 1977 | December 12, 2009 |
| Season 1 | 26 | October 6, 1974 | March 30, 1975 |
| Season 2 | 26 | October 14, 1978 | April 7, 1979 |
| Season 3 | 25 | October 11, 1980 | April 4, 1981 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Space Battleship Yamato Space Battleship Yamato is the first theatrical movie based on the classic anime series. Unlike the later films that would follow it, this is a compilation film consisting of various television episodes edited from the "Iscandar" arc of the television series. It originally had a new ending created for the theatrical release in which Starsha had died before the Yamato reaching Iscandar. This ending was removed for the TV broadcast and was lost until the DVD release. In English speaking countries it was known by the title, Space Cruiser. |
August 6, 1977 |
| 2 |
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato, also called Arrivederci Yamato, is the second film based on the classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato. The same storyline was reused and expanded on later in the year on TV in Space Battleship Yamato II, albeit with a more upbeat ending. |
August 5, 1978 |
| 3 |
Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage Yamato: The New Voyage was a television movie that was first broadcast on Fuji TV. This was the third movie in the Space Battleship Yamato saga. The Yamato crew must defeat the new Dark Nebula Empire. |
July 31, 1979 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
SOS Earth!! Awaken, Space Battleship Yamato Earth is losing to a superior foe, as the very survival of the planet lies within a message from a distant galax |
October 6, 1974 |
| 2 |
Fire the Signal Gun!! Space Battleship Yamato Takes Off The hope of the Earth lies within an old battleship found at the bottom of what used to be the Great Eastern Sea. |
October 13, 1974 |
| 3 |
Yamato takes off!! The 296,000 Light Years Challenge The Earth Defense force mission is clear - take the newly rebuilt Yamato 148,000 light years to the planet Iscandar, to retrieve a machine called the Cosmo-Cleaner D which will save Earth from its irradiated state. But will the Gamilas stop them? |
October 20, 1974 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
2201: Yamato Returns! The year is 2201, one year after the Star Force returned to Earth with the CosmoDNA which removed the Gamilon radioactive pollution that was threatening all life on the planet. The Comet Empire prepares to begin its assault on unsuspecting Earth. We learn that Desslok of Gamilon is still alive, and in league with the Comet Empire. Most of the Star Force crew members are now on Earth. The Argo (with Wildstar and Homer) is returning from remote patrol duty in the solar system. On the way back to Earth, the Argo receives an encoded message amidst a huge electromagnetic power surge. It is not yet known whether the surge was used to send the message, or to jam it, or for some other purpose. During the surge, the Argo is attacked by an unidentified squadron of fighter planes. With its radar damaged, the Argo has a near collision with the new Earth Defense flagship, Andromeda, which refuses to give up its flight path for the incoming Argo. The two ships scape by each other, and the Argo lands on Earth. |
October 14, 1978 |
| 2 |
The Comet Appears; Remodeling the Yamato! Sandor and Wildstar visit the new shipyards, and discuss many of the new tech improvements going into Earth's new fleet. The Andromeda and other ships have skeleton crews, with most of the central systems controlled by computer. Sandor laments this since he believes that "we must keep control of the machines we create. If we don't, we're doomed." (see episode 1-18). There are improvements for the Argo too: New shock cannons that have an increased range (150% of the original); and, a time radar that is capable to detecting past events in space. Sandor demonstrates it for Wildstar by showing Chief Engineer Orion urinating against a ship-yard wall. Must be getting old, that one. But, all the improvements are not welcome. Sandor reveals to Wildstar that Earth Defense Committee wants the Argo to be adapted to the same kind of computer control system a la Andromeda. Derek flies into a rage and storms off to the Commander's office in protest. He urges, "The Argo's heart and blood is the Star Force. It's people, not machinery!" While pleading his case to the Commander, as if in symmetry to the recent power surge, there is a power blackout over most of Earth, which is an attempt by the new enemy to soften up Earth defenses. During the outage, Wildstar spots an alien spy plane (a horseshoe crab-shaped bomber) flying over the darkened city. Sandor notices a huge comet in the distant sky heading towards Earth. He and Wildstar analyse the radio message received during the power surge but can only determine that it must be "in some unknown language." |
October 21, 1978 |
| 3 |
Earth's Endangerment Awakens Yamato! Wildstar and Nova visit the remains of one of the underground cities that Earth used when it had been devastated by Gamilon radiation. Wildstar fears that the new threat could make them necessary again, and knows the the EDF government will not act quickly enough. The encoded message received during the power surge is analysed and determined to be a jammed distress call from outside the solar system -- originating somewhere in the same area as the approaching comet (the issue of it being in some "unknown language" seems to have gone away). But the Earth Defense Committee refuses to take action or to take the possibility of a new threat seriously. Wildstar assembles the old Star Force crew in front of Captain Avatar's memorial statue (Heroes' Hill), and proposes a renegade mission to seek out the new threat. |
October 28, 1978 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Solar System Faces Destruction | October 11, 1980 |
| 2 | Battle at the Milky Way | October 18, 1980 |
| 3 | Yamato Desparts at Dawn | October 25, 1980 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | YTV |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 6, 1974 |
| Last aired | April 4, 1981 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Status | ended |